Patriots close in on perfect season
BOSTON, Massachusetts: The New England Patriots moved to within one game of a perfect regular season when they crushed the Miami Dolphins 28-7 to become the first NFL team to go 15-0 on Sunday.
Tom Brady passed for three touchdowns, two of them going to Randy Moss in the historic win.
A victory at the New York Giants on Saturday would enable the Patriots to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only NFL teams to go undefeated in a regular season.
The Dolphins were 14-0 in 1972, six years before the NFL went to a 16-game schedule.
Miami were the last team to beat New England in the regular season, shutting out the Patriots 21-0 on Dec. 10, 2006 in Miami.
New England have since won 18 consecutive regular-season games, matching the league record of the 2003-2004 Patriots.
All of the Patriots' scoring on Sunday came in the first half, which they led 28-0.
Moss caught passes of 11 and one yard to put New England ahead 14-0 against the Dolphins (1-14).
Laurence Maroney's 59-yard run made it 21-0 before Brady connected with Jabar Gaffney for a 48-yard TD pass.
The score gave Brady 48 touchdown passes this season, one short of Peyton Manning's 2004 record.
Moss, with 21 TD receptions this year, is also one shy of the NFL record, set in 1987 by Jerry Rice.
Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns when the Indianapolis Colts rolled to a 38-15 home victory over the Houston Texans for their sixth win in a row.
Dallas Clark caught two of Manning's TD passes, giving him a team record 11 for the season. He had six catches for the game for 60 yards, breaking the team record for receptions in a season with 57.
Manning was 28-of-35 for 311 yards in three quarters of play as the Colts improved to 13-2. Houston, who gave up 38 unanswered points after scoring first, dropped to 7-8.
The Chicago Bears (6-9) stunned the Green Bay Packers for the second time this season, rushing to a 35-7 home victory, with Green Bay's Brett Favre held without a touchdown pass.
The loss cost the Packers (12-3) a chance to win the NFC's No 1 seed and home-field playoff advantage.
Favre passed for only 153 yards and was intercepted twice with Brian Urlacher returning the second 85 yards for a TD.
The New York Giants (10-5) secured an NFC playoff berth with a 38-21 road victory over the Buffalo Bills (7-8). The Giants' Brandon Jacobs rushed a career-high 145 yards and scored twice. Teammate Ahmad Bradshaw added 151 yards rushing, going 88 yards for a touchdown.
Buffalo tight end Kevin Everett, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury earlier in the season, attended and addressed the Bills before the game.
Matt Hasselbeck passed for two touchdowns and the playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks (10-5) cruised to a 27-6 home win over the Baltimore Ravens (4-11).
Agencies
(China Daily 12/25/2007 page24)
